1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for conducting an online transaction, and more particularly, to a method and system for conducting an online transaction that allows the seller and bidder to negotiate the final sale price.
2. Background of the Invention
Advances in computer processing power and network communications have made information from a wide variety of sources available to users on computer networks. Computer networking allows network computer users to share information, software applications and hardware devices, and internetworking enables a set of physical networks to be connected into a single network such as the Internet. Computers connected to the Internet or connected to networks other than the Internet also have access to information stored on those networks. The World Wide Web (Web), a hypermedia system used on the Internet, enables hypertext linking, whereby documents automatically reference or link other documents located on connected computer networks around the world. Thus, users connected to the Internet have almost instant access to information stored in relatively distant regions.
A page of information on the Web may include references to other Web pages and may include a broad range of multimedia data including textual, graphical, audio, and animation information. Currently, Internet users retrieve information from the Internet, through the Web, by xe2x80x98visitingxe2x80x99 a web site on a computer that is connected to the Internet.
The web site is, in general terms, a server application that displays information stored on a network server computer. The web site accepts connections from client programs, such as Internet browser applications. Browser applications, such as Microsoft Explorer(trademark) or Netscape Internet Browser(trademark), allow Internet users to access information displayed on the web site. Most browser applications display information on computer screens and permit a user to navigate through the Web using a mouse. Like other network applications, Web browsing uses a client-server paradigm. When given a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a document, the browser application becomes a client and it contacts a server application specified in the URL to request the document. After receiving the document from the server application, the browser application displays the document to the user. When the browser application interacts with the server application, the two applications follow the Hyper-Text Transport Protocol (HTTP). HTTP allows the browser application to request a specific article, which the server application then returns. To ensure that browser applications and server applications inter-operate unambiguously, HTTP defines the exact format for requests sent from the browser application to the server application as well as the format of replies that the server application returns. As the number of physical networks connected to the Internet continues to grow, so too will the number of web sites that are accessible to Internet users and so too will commercial activity on the Internet. Providers of a wide range of products and/or services are continuously exploring new methods for promoting and selling them. For example, many seller""s offer products and services that are sold using an auction-type process.
As the Internet continues to evolve into an effective medium for conducting transactions between parties, various Web-based sites currently offer online auctions or facilitate online transactions. The Internet, which constitutes a network of networks, provides an easily accessible and user-friendly base from which to conduct auctions and online transactions.
The seller usually provides information about a sale item, a minimum acceptable sale price, and the number of days the auction will run. The item information and the opening and closing time of the auction are then displayed to a community of bidders. Once the bidding window of the auction opens, the bidders submit bids that are continually processed in order to determine the highest bid. During the auction, the highest bid is continually updated and displayed to the bidders.
Outside of the initial information about the sale item provided by the seller and the bid from the bidder, there is no further interaction between the parties. The seller cannot respond to a bidder""s offer with a counter-offer, thereby transforming the traditional auction into a one-on-one negotiation. This lack of interaction prevents the parties from possibly negotiating a mutually agreeable price and prevents the parties from utilizing their respective negotiating skills.
Current online auctions operate an open-bidding format, whereby the highest bid or even the bidding history is displayed to all bidders. This feature has three distinct effects on the progress and outcome of the auction. First, the order in which the bids are received is not particularly important to the outcome of the auction, because the highest bid at the end of the auction prevails. Therefore, this format favors the last in line and precludes earlier submitted bids from being considered by the seller. Second, open-bidding prevents any exclusive interaction between the seller and bidder from taking place. Third, since the highest bid is continually disclosed to all bidders, subsequent bidders can use this information to narrowly out bid the current highest bid.
Another feature of current online auctions is the time-limited bidding window. The seller solicits the highest bid from a community of bidders within a predetermined time frame. This feature has three limitations. First, a simulated real-time auction forces a bidder to continually monitor the progress of the auction. If an auction is based on the format in which the highest bidder within a certain time frame prevails, then all participating bidders are forced to monitor the auction. Since the highest bid is tracked and displayed to all bidders, a subsequent bidder can easily out-bid a previous bidder, who may have in the meantime logged off the auction site. Therefore, in order to insure a successful bid, the bidder must diligently monitor the auction, particularly the closing minutes.
Second, a bidding window limits the seller""s control over the final price. The seller sets an acceptable minimum price, but the seller does not decide which particular bid to accept. Simply, the highest bid above the minimum acceptable bid at the end of the auction is the winning bid. The seller is not given the opportunity to accept an earlier bid or stall and accept a bid which might have otherwise been submitted after the closing of the artificial bidding window.
Third, a competitive bidding process at the close of a bidding window may entice some bidders to irrationally and without reflection submit higher bids than they would have normally submitted. The exciting and frantic ending of an auction may cause some bidders to bid higher for an item, even though under calmer circumstances they would not have made the same bid.
In light of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide an integrated online transaction system that permits the seller to negotiate with potential bidders, who have submitted undisclosed bids. In particular, it would be advantageous to enhance the auction experience with one-on-one interaction between the seller and bidder.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to method and system for conducting an online transaction that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
One object of the present invention is to provide to both the sellers and bidders more flexibility and control during an online transaction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide the seller the ability to consider each bid submitted and to negotiate with a bidder.
Another object of the present invention is to provide the bidder the ability to participate in an online transaction without having to monitor the progress and closing of the transaction window.
A further object of the present invention is to provide the seller and bidder the opportunity to utilize their respective negotiating skills.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a bidding environment not restricted by time.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, in one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for conducting an online transaction that allows a seller and a bidder to negotiate, including the steps of displaying information about an item; receiving an offer from at least one bidder; enabling the seller and only one bidder to negotiate by allowing the seller and the bidder each a predetermined number of responses; and enabling the seller and a subsequent bidder to negotiate, after the predetermined number of responses is met without a sale.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a system for conducting an online transaction that enables a seller and a bidder to negotiate a sale price of an item that includes means for receiving information regarding an item from the seller; means for storing the information; means for displaying information regarding the item and the transaction; means for receiving and storing offers from the bidder; means for enabling the seller or bidder to terminate a negotiation; and means for enabling the seller to negotiate with a subsequent bidder.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.